Medium Format

It's easy to dismiss the amount of difficulty involved in location shoots. A few years ago, Joey Lawrence (JoeyL) shot a personal project of portraits in Ethiopia. Whether traveling by van, boat or Indiana Jones plane, it's great to have the opportunity to see how hard the literal journey was on the way to the figurative photographic destination. Just handling the equipment was a pretty substantial undertaking.

The iconic Windows XP wallpaper "Bliss" is widely considered to be the world's most viewed image. Though most of us are familiar with the beautiful image that has graced our computers at one point or another, not many are familiar with the story of how it came to be, and fewer yet that it is in fact a real image captured on film! Photographer Charles O'Rear shares with us the story behind how he created the image with nothing more than his Mamiya RZ67 and a roll of Fuji Film.

According to PhotoRumors, the Pentax 645z medium format digital camera is coming April 14th and will be absolutely loaded. The replacement to the 645d will feature a 52.99Mp CMOS sensor like the new offerings from PhaseOne and Hasselblad, shoot ISO 100-204,800, and shoot full HD video and 4K in "interval mode". In addition, the 645z is rumored to not have an AA filter (like the D800E, D7100) for better sharpness, live view with contrast AF and focus peaking, and a new 27-point (25 cross type) AF system.

We live in a time where photographers and filmmakers must combine powers to be competitive in todays advertising market. Recently a huge fashion client approached our production company to capture concurrent motion and still ad campaigns with supermodel Lily Aldridge, but we had to do it all in under 10 hours with 2 complete hair and makeup changes and 12+ outfits. Advertising creatives today need to be able to shoot stellar visual content and assemble bulletproof productions.

You may have read my previous post previewing the first modern CMOS-based medium format back to hit the world market by Phase One. Soon after my post, Phase One HQ sent me one of the first IQ250 backs to arrive in the US to review for this site. I had a solid 2 weeks to try it out and see what this system was capable of doing.

One does not often associate violent protests and the threat of sniper fire with portrait studios. However, photojournalist Anastasia Taylor-Lind’s recent portraits of protestors and fighters in Kiev, Ukraine make us question this apparent disconnect. Taylor-Lind's stunning and revealing portraits were taken with a medium-format film camera between outbursts of violence, documenting the men and women fighting for their freedom in Kiev.

A few weeks back, I posted a full behind the scenes blog about my Robocop photoshoot. I had such a fun time with the shoot and final images that I figured others may enjoy playing with my Phase One MF raw files as well. I posted a contest on my personal photography blog that challenged people to re-interpret Robocop using up to 8 of my supplied Phase One RAW files. There was hundreds of entries from across the globe a handful of star-studded judges to review the entries.

As far as digital products from Pentax go, the 645D Medium Format has always been the king of the hill for the company. Fans of Pentax, such as myself, have been anxiously awaiting an update to the original digital medium format offering from Pentax which was released nearly 4 years ago in 2010. Nipping at the heels of the recent Hasselblad and Phase One CMOS Medium Format announcements it appears Pentax finally has its own Medium Format announcement to make... and a 50MP CMOS no less.

Adventure Sports Photographer Tim Kemple was one of the only photographers in the world who was lucky enough to try out the new Phase One IQ250 that was just announced earlier today. Check out the behind the scenes video, but also read the full article for my interview with Tim, where he shares his thoughts on the system, as well as what it's like to beta test cameras.

For years, medium format cameras have been stuck with digital CCD sensors that are poor-performing at high ISO's because creating medium format CMOS sensors was prohibitively expensive. Well, that has all changed now. Hasselblad teased their new CMOS medium format camera earlier this week, but today Phase One announced their new CMOS digital medium format back and not only is it ready to ship on Monday, but it already looks like it will be a class dominator.

The swirly bokeh of fast lenses designed by Joseph Petzval in the mid-19th century is no longer solely available to fine art photographers using view cameras. In July, we profiled a Kickstarter campaign by Lomography to fund the creation of a brass Petzval for Nikon and Canon mounts. Now, a new campaign is hoping to fund the production of an F3.8 120mm lens for medium format cameras with a Pentacon Six and Hasselblad compatible mount.

It's not every day you can make one big massive sandwich tower and get paid to do it. In this behind the scenes I take you through an average shoot in our Chicago studio. You can see the team of people that come together to a shoot like this happen.

Stock Photographer Yuri Arcurs definitely went big with this experimental photoshoot, to see if it would be possible to shoot a fast moving fighter jet, and actually light it up with flashes. This behind the scenes video shows us how difficult it was to pull off, but that the end result justifies the elaborate and at times frustrating work.

Philadelphia-based photographic artist Isa Leshko turned her camera onto aging farm animals, horses and dogs to create a powerful study of mortality and aging. The body of work, captured with medium format film, is currently exhibited at the Corden Potts gallery in San Francisco and was inspired by the caregiving process she underwent with her parents.

This shoot combines two things that I really love as a photographer: motorsports and incredible shoot locations. This comprehensive behind the scenes video captured by Ron Risman really gives you a great idea of how photographer Gregor Halenda put the campaign together. The resulting images were crisp and clean, showing off the bikes and locale.

This is it. By now, You will have been inspired, honed your ideas, found the perfect location and booked your talent. You will have taken that little bit of inspiration and nurtured it into a full fledged shoot. If you are anything like me, you will have tossed out far more ideas than you kept and you will have spent hours upon hours solidifying the few that stuck with you. It is safe to say that the hard part is over.

Recently I was lucky enough to have a day off, something that doesn't happen too often. I woke up that morning feeling a little burnt out from the daily non-stop marathon that is living and working as a freelancer in New York City. I dragged myself out into the kitchen, made myself some bacon and eggs and sat down to eat. Over breakfast, I realized I hadn't made a picture for myself in almost a full year.

You may recall my previous automotive rig tutorial with the Green Hornet Black Beauty. My buddy, award-winning commercial photographer Nigel Harniman (www.harniman.com), recently put together another great automotive rig tutorial post using his Phase One ALPA and a Ferrari. I think the shot came out awesome and I definitely learned a few things, which you can read about below!